This invention relates to a method of supporting the roof of an underground mine working comprising stationing beneath said roof a flexible mat having a stored portion and an extended portion leading off from said stored portion, supporting said extended portion at an elevated position adjacent to said roof, holding said elevated portion stationary at a succession of such elevated positions while moving said stored portion along a succession of generally parallel laterally offset paths to withdraw further lengths of mat from said stored portion, and underpinning said extended portions at intervals along their lengths by prop-supported superstructure. The invention also relates to an apparatus for use in carrying out the method.
Such a method and apparatus is the subject of U.S. Pat. No. 3,399,927 already issued to me and of my application for U.S. patent Ser. No. 693,114 filed on June 4, 1976.
Methods involved in the use of the forms of apparatus disclosed and claimed in the aforesaid patent and application, although providing an improvement in the safety of personnel working beneath the roof, does not make provision for connection between the generally parallel portions of mat so that there is a risk that gaps will be left or will develop between adjacent portions of roof mat and the safeguard offered by the mat to descent of roof material would, therefore, not be established in respect of such gaps.
To secure adjacent portions of roof mat together by manual methods involves considerable work, is expensive, and gives rise to accident risks to an extent which is undesirable in mechanised mine workings.
The principal object of the present invention is to overcome or reduce these disadvantages.